War on Terrorism

5. With the numerous recent hostage situations involving Al-Queda, do you think that the War on Terrorism was actually won?

The war on terrorism is one that will never be one.  There will always be people who wish to prove a point and who will do it through violence.  With seven billion people on earth it is impossible to please everyone. Unfortunately we live in a world where certain groups strive for attention to try and influence the masses, but all they achieve is a hatred- something that doesn't make sense to me.  Perhaps the only thing we can work towards is a more peaceful planet, never a perfectly safe one. 

western politics

3. Look at this political cartoon (http://i.imgur.com/vcBZ8.jpg).  How do Western politics reflect the message portrayed in this cartoon?  

Instead of answering this question, I would like to instead point out the error in the cartoon.  Every western leader goes through a rigorous election process in which hundreds of millions of people chose the person who will make choices for them in order to be elected again.  People have all the power over leaders in western politics, that's why we are considered uncorrupted.  I also feel as though majorities have been trying to abuse their power with the whole 99% movement in which leaders are pressured between votes and money... people clearly do know their power and are doing a very good job of abusing it while showing the rest of the world their ignorance in topics they know so little about. 

Putin

2. Vladamir Putin was recently elected back into office at the Kremlin. Do you think the election was a good representation of what the people wanted?

Since the recent voter turn out in Russia of 137%, the media's spotlight has turned to corruption in Russia.  Personally, I feel as though before the recent dishonestly in the elections that Putin was a very honourable leader; he served his country before ruling it and therefore, hopefully, serves in his people's general best interest.  Putin has been named one of the most powerful people in the world by Forbes and is therefore backed by a strong majority of his country.  There are always people who wish to see the other part win and will try to sway the public's opinion on who to vote for; perhaps the world has simply seen too much propaganda in Russia and our ideas have been swayed. To directly answer the question, I feel as though Putin being reelected was a good representation of what the people wanted but the number of voters was clearly overkill. 

Bill C-30

13. Bill C-30 is proposed legislation that would give police and intelligence agencies new powers to access Canadians' electronic communications and allow telecomunications to hand over private data to the government without a warrant.  Do you agree that the Canadian Government should be allowed to "spy" on Canadians if it means stopping child pornography offenders? Where should the government draw the line?

I have to respond to this question by asking another: what does Facebook do with our data right now?  Facebook has played a pivotal role in catching criminals by seeing where people have checked in, what they've searched on the internet, and what they're posting to their friends.  If Facebook can track all of our data, why shouldn't the government be allowed to?  Our generation has been tainted by violent video games and always being exposed to the bad in the world through the news- perhaps knowing that the government is always capable of watching you will scare people with sadistic thoughts out fulfilling their sickening fantasies.  

Bill C-30 doesn't seem like it will stop any websites from running as SOPA or PIPA would, however would monitor the searches of everyone and simply red flag any group of searches that seem out of the ordinary and use this as a method of catching criminals.  So long as websites such as YouTube are not shut down, I feel as though Bill C-30 will actually create a safer environment in Canada.  Unless your idea of leisure is breaking the law, this bill shouldn't do any harm to you. 

Facebook IPO

Is Facebook's upcoming IPO (initial public offering on the stock market) properly priced?  The company's price will be about 99x that of their earnings.

I think that this is a very high but justified valuation of the company.  Many lines have been drawn between Google's IPO and the upcoming offering of Facebook shares on the market, Google's initial P/E ratio (price of the company to the earnings that they have, Facebook's would be 99) was 125.  Both websites are constantly used by the public, almost everyone uses both Google and Facebook every single day.  When you buy a company, you're paying for their future earnings as well; investors clearly believe that Facebook is going to start pulling in record breaking profits soon, as the company is already being valued at about $100B.  Google went public before they started selling their androids, before any hype about Google Glasses came out, all they had was a search engine.  Facebook is quite similar in this was that their profits all come from their website, perhaps investors are waiting for Facebook to join the phone market, or to start creating something that you can put in your pocket. 

Many investors are excited to see what Facebook can do, as am I, but we need to see some really large profits if Facebook hopes for the price of their company to increase much. 

Whittard's Topics

18. What have you learned about yourself during the course?

Throughout World Issues, I feel as though I've become a much more informed citizen.  I'd like to think that I've learned to create some insight for others on our most important issues; my actions in the WIC in January helped teach many grades 8, 11, and 12 students about the European debt crisis and specifically Greece and my ISP on the US debt crisis sparked a response from many of my classmates.  World Issues has definitely helped me become a better and more confident speaker whether it be through long presentations, from crafting clever questions, or from bringing my ideas to the class in our discussions every class.  

Though I've learned a lot about many specific issues, I would like to think that the thinking methods that I've learned are the most important lessons that I've learned.  Of course there are many issues that need addressing; however, World Issues has taught me that countless numbers of Issues are always coming up and it how we learn from them that we may one day be able to make change in future similar issues that will make the world the better place we dream of.  

In terms of the hard skills, the knowledge, I feel as though I've solidified my love for finance in this course.  Without all of the research, independent learning, and reports that I've done on Europe and the US this year, I wouldn't have known how truly interested in this subject I am. 

19. What is the biggest threat facing our Canada in the next 50 years?

Though most people would likely put global warming in this blog, I feel as though we're trying to stop it, everyone is aware of it, and we're all recycling, using less water, and saving energy to slow this issue.  Canada's one unusable farmland will become warm enough to use and water levels will not become a problem for the majority of the country.  Instead, I feel as though the tar sands are an issue that needs to be addressed as soon as possible. 

After the recent TED talk shown in class, knowing that the beautiful rural land in Alberta is being destroyed by companies who wish to violate the land there and extract this oil in a very unclean way is something that needs to be stopped or done in a much less destructive matter.  The issue of oil in today's society is huge; wars have been fought over oil in Iraq and Iran is trying to leverage the US with their supplies of this "black gold." Though oil is a huge factor in economics, we need to do something about the tar sands in Alberta.  Canada is known for it's beauty, it's natural parks, it's great north, it's friendliness, how does ripping out natural habitats and polluting a huge amount of water to extract oil add to our reputation?  If there's one thing we need to protect in Canada, it is our pride and ripping out the beauty in our country to export a commodity that our world should be trying to live without is, quite frankly, disgusting. Canada needs to see a change in government that only supports this extraction of oil is it is much more clean and less destructive to the beauty of our country. 

20. As you move into the next phase of your life, how will you try to affect change in the world regarding these issues?

Unfortunately, my desired career path is one where I won't be able to solve these problems as an individual.  I hope to "retire" from my job and become a key player in the Canadian central banks or even the finance minister (if I'm anywhere close to good enough) so that I can bring my knowledge to bettering the economy of either Canada or the US, but also the rest of the world.  As we become a more global community, I hope that actions in one country will more directly start to affect others and that countries are working together as opposed to against each other for economic growth. 

As I won't be able to take on a job in the government's finances or the central bank for probably another 30-45 years, my impact on the world will continue to be with the individual.  I hope to influence people to make smart financial decisions in bad financial times.  As it has been said in class many times, the world is moved by money, we can't address many issues abroad because we don't have enough money for ourselves; I hope to help individuals, companies, and one day countries to be able to hold balanced books and to see growth in their finances so that we truly have no excuse to not hold our hands, or our pockets, out to those who need help in the developing world. 

What are the 3 most important issues that you've learned about during the course?

Throughout the entire course, I feel as though I've had my eyes opened to many very important issues.  As a keen finance student, I must place high importance in the European debt crisis.  Though I include the debt crisis in my top three, I feel as though the AIC and human trafficking have impacted me a lot this year and thus can be seen in my top three important issues taught this year.
As mentioned in my most recent blog post, I outlined how the European debt crisis can affect the entire global economy in a very negative way.  Learning more about this issue has opened my eyes about more of the details of what is happening in Europe both through learning in class and by solidifying my knowledge of the topic by teaching my peers what I know about the issue.  Through helping other people understand how bonds work and what a default may cause, I managed to use my knowledge of the EU to have a very successful Model UN conference in New York and bring my expertise to be seen as worthy to bring my views up in the General Assembly in front of over 2500 people.
The AIC took up a very long stretch of the class and is therefore one of my top three choices.  Throughout the months that the simulation was going on for, I learned a lot about the religious conflicts over land between the Arabs and Israelis as well as a high amount of information on Saudi Arabia's economy and ties to the US.
Finally, the recent presentations on human trafficking throughout Europe and Canada created an emotional response with me.  Knowing that such horrible things are happening to young women, even girls, is a disgusting issue that needs to be addressed as soon as possible. Though I don't really know how the governments can really take a lot of action on this problem without violating some human rights, I thing it is imperative for the governments of North America and Europe to either individually or collectively take a stand again these misogynistic actions.